My Secret Santa
by SEAubrey
Summary: TPG Contest. It's the Annual Secret Santa Exchange amongst the LEP officers. Holly Short keeps getting special presents from her Secret Santa. Who was her Secret Santa?


On the first day of December, all the officers of the Lower Element Police force received the same virtual mail in their inbox sent by Commander Julius Root.

Now, a v-mail from Root itself is rare, as he was not the type to send v-mails; he'd rather yell whatever he wanted his officers to know in their faces so it would be implanted permanently into their dim excuses for a fairy brain. But this particular subject involves the whole of the LEP, and really, the Commander did not want to lose his voice through screaming at hundreds of officers. Especially not by yelling at them individually.

Anyway, the v-mail goes more or less like this:

_Dear whosoever-that-will-read-this-eventually,_

_Subject: Annual Secret Santa Exchange_

_Yes, I can practically hear all of you cheering away already. That was sarcasm, by the way, if your tiny brain couldn't figure that out._

_It is time once again for yet another year of the Secret Santa Exchange. This year, I – fine, Foaly and I – have decided to give it a little twist._

_As per usual, all of you are to draw a slip of paper containing your recipient's police ID number from the black box in my office. _

**BUT!**

_Notice that this is the change I'm going to tell you about. Don't get too excited and run off and pee in your pants yet._

_This year, you are to wait until the 14__th__ of December before sending them ONE PRESENT, and I repeat, ONE PRESENT PER DAY, all the way up to the 25__th__ of December, or more commonly known as Christmas Day, where you are to reveal yourselves to your recipient._

_Yes, Foaly, much to your little pony delight, I have taken your silly '12 days of Christmas' idea into consideration. So stop bugging me about it. You are flooding my inbox so much that I have set the system to identify your mail as spam. So unless you want anything important, let's say, a distress v-mail saying that your hairy behind with its owner attached is stuck in the Ops Booth, which is locked down by Opal Koboi or something, to get deleted immediately after it has been received, stop spamming me._

_And no, I am not joking._

_The rules for the Secret Santa Exchange are the same for the previous years, but I will tell you again in case you have forgotten, which you would probably have._

_1) There will be strictly no exchanging of recipients. _

_3) You are forbidden to ask anyone about or track down your Secret Santa._

_2) You are not to reveal yourselves to your recipient or tell anyone about whom your recipient is before the 25__th__ of December. I don't care if you have been dared to, or if your family is being threatened._

_Anyone who does not comply or participate would be stripped of their police privileges and/or get extra police duty. Trust me; I have my ways of finding out._

_Oh yes, I do hope that, whoever you are, you are not reading this after the 14__th__ of December. If you are, you'll have your sorry butt kicked by me. I will personally see to that._

_Commander Julius Root_

Needless to say, Root's office remained empty of visitors for the rest of that day.

The next day, when Root decided to 'take matters into my own hands', 'forget that pony Foaly's unreliable technology' and 'do it the old-fashioned way', his office suddenly become flooded with officers scrambling for the black box as if their very lives depended on it. Well, it was more like their days off and LEP privileges depended on it.

On the 13th of December, Root could be seen going from cubicle to cubicle with the black box, requesting to see the slip of paper. When I say 'requesting', I most definitely mean 'demanding'.

It was tough to trick the Commander by holding out a random slip of paper, mostly due to no literal paperwork thanks to Foaly's technology. Those rare few officers who do own paper, though, like a certain female Recon captain, are quite trustworthy and responsible. Root may be a little skeptic of said captain, but when she sincerely offered Root to read the ID, he knew that she was telling the truth.

The gifts start to arrive on the 14th of December. At first, only a handful of presents were received. But after lunchtime, the presents poured in. It may or may not have to do with Root's lunchtime announcement and a coincidental promotion at a nearby department store. Maybe a little _too_ coincidental.

Captain Holly Short's Secret Santa wasn't one of those late shoppers, though. In fact, her gift was one of the earliest gifts to arrive.

The rectangular box wrapped in plain red wrapping paper and tied with a bright green ribbon was waiting for her on her desk when she stepped in.

Now, I would be lying if I said Holly didn't open the box, being one of those officers who let curiosity be their conscious, earning her famous – or infamous to some – reputation of being the unpredictable female Recon officer.

Carefully, she peeled back the tape and unfolded the wrapping paper, revealing a box of Belgium creamy milk chocolate.

Her mouth fell open in surprise and delight. Real milk chocolate from above ground. And from _Belgium_, a country whose only chocolate rival is Switzerland.

She opened the box and popped a knob of chocolate into her mouth, sighing as it melted on her tongue and quickly replacing the lid back before the irresistible chocolate scent could spread any further.

A million questions ran through her mind. How did her Secret Santa know her love for chocolate? And how did he or she manage to get real creamy milk chocolate from aboveground? The chocolates made in Haven were too bland to even worth buying compared to the chocolate from aboveground.

Holly sat in her swivel chair, rolling the chocolate delicacy in her mouth. When this was over, she really have to thank her Secret Santa sincerely.

Holly's Secret Santa pleasantly surprised her with her gifts over the next ten days.

On the second day, Holly got a cushion that can read the user's emotions and release a scent to either calm or cheer the user up, depending on their mood.

On the third day, she received a gold plated paperweight shaped like a bar of gold.

On the fourth day, she got a super bouncy ball that changes color every time it bounces.

On the fifth day, she received a box of candy canes that was usually found aboveground.

On the sixth day, she got a fragrant red rose that doesn't wilt or lose its scent, which Holly placed in a slim vase that was once her mother's she had found in her attic.

On the seventh day, she received a freshly plucked acorn, which she immediately buried and relaxed as the burst of magic flowed in her.

On the eighth day, she got a metal wristband that doubles as a voice-activated laser, which reminds her of that cartoon character from aboveground, Buzz Lightyear.

On the ninth day, she received a manual foot massager. She knew no one else in the LEP but Root possesses a similar one.

On the tenth day, she got a pair of sunglasses that has several filter options, much like the LEP field helmet. It even has an anti-shielding filter and a camera with similar filters with a five-terabyte memory space.

On the eleventh day, she received a box of handmade toffee, which tastes quite good.

Holly wondered every day on whom her Secret Santa really was. Technically, she wasn't going against Root's orders; she was just guessing.

Her first suspect – I mean guess – was LEP technical consultant Foaly, seeing how the mood cushion was very much like his own innovation, the Mood Blanket for centaurs. But she noticed that Root received high-tech equipment that Foaly kept asking to borrow, confirming that Foaly was just using Root and his Secret Santa identity to get what _he_ wanted for Christmas.

Her next guess was Commander Julius Root himself, seeing how much her Secret Santa knows about her and noticing the similar foot massager. But, as more of Root's red face start to show without its usual yelling, and with the Wing Commander Raine Vinyáya's very romantic presents, she ruled out the option.

She considered Private Chix Verbil, Captain Trouble Kelp and his brother Corporal Grub too, but they all failed to meet the mark. Chix had boasted to almost everyone that he got the hottest elf, Corporal Lili Frond as his recipient, and had ended up on Traffic duty for ten years. Trouble because he had complained enough to Holly before Root had gave him the evil eye for her to figure out his brother is his recipient. And said brother was just too insensitive and busy finding fault with everything around him that Holly immediately turned down the idea.

Holly had Foaly as her recipient, though, and she kept him happy by following his 'List of Things I Want My Secret Santa to Get Me' that he posted on his website.

Finally, the day which every fairy – and human – had been waiting for. December 25th. Christmas Day.

Holly arrived in her cubicle right on time. Well, earlier than usual, according to her, with 'the usual' being 'late'.

She was greeted with a green envelope with a red bow suck on top where the address was supposed to be. She tore open the envelope and slid the card out.

The card looked as if it was store bought from aboveground. The picture on the front of the card depicted a decorated Christmas tree with presents underneath. The words 'Merry Christmas' was printed in gold and elaborate curls in an arc above the tree.

Holly opened the stiff card. Handwritten inside in neat cursive was the following message:

_Merry Christmas, Holly Short._

_You may be wondering how I could have participated in the LEP Secret Santa Exchange, not being part of the LEP myself. Well, let's just say that Julius Root owes me two major favors._

_One of those favors I had used to get myself to be your Secret Santa. "Why?" I can hear you ask already. I guess it is to thank you for all the things you have done for me these past few years._

_The other favor I had exchanged for your last Christmas present. The new v-mail in your inbox should be sufficient to inform you of the gift._

_Once again, I wish you a very merry Christmas, and may you have a happy New Year._

_Sincerely,_

_Artemis Fowl the Second_

Holly stared at the signed name at the bottom of the card.

_Wait. What?_

_Artemis?_

Holly fell off her swivel chair in shock and landed on the floor with a crash.

She reread the card, hoping that somehow, her eyes have fooled her, but no, the message was the same.

The pieces of the puzzle finally clicked together, though, as she thought of the gifts he had sent her, like the sunglasses and the metal wristband she was currently wearing. Only Artemis could've created something like that. That wristband had seen her through two successful Recons since she had received it. And some of the presents came from aboveground too, like the candy canes and chocolates.

Then Holly remembered the request to check her inbox. She dashed to her desktop, firing it up and drumming her fingers on the tabletop as she waited impatiently for it to load. Her fingers flew over the keyboard as she typed in her password combination and selected the v-mail icon.

A pop-up, well, popped up on the screen, informing her of a new unread message, which she selected immediately. It was from Commander Root, informing her of her Christmas Day off and her new one-day surface visa.

_No wonder he didn't catch me in the corridor earlier…_ She thought, and then shook her head.

_Hey, it's my day off. What am I doing here?_ With that, she switched off the main switch, not bothering to shut down the desktop properly, and dashed to the shuttle port. E1, to be precise. On the way, she palmed a Hummingbird Z7.

While the shuttle was being prepared for the journey, Holly took the time to unveil her secret identity to Foaly, who was not really surprised.

"I knew that, as my friend, you would know of and follow the List, instead of not caring for my feelings and getting some cheesy Christmassy ornamental stuff," Foaly said.

Holly hugged the centaur goodbye and she boarded the shuttle, relaxing as it flew up the shuttle chute to the Earth's surface.

Stepping out of the shuttle port, she strapped on the Hummingbird and took several deep breaths of sweet, fresh air, purging the stale tunnel air from her lungs. She slipped on the special sunglasses, buzzed up her shield and took off in the air.

_This is the most perfect Christmas present ever,_ Holly thought, an invisible grin on her face as she did a few invisible air somersaults before flying on a familiar route towards a familiar place: Fowl Manor.

A/N: Aaaaaargh! I've only found out about TPG on Christmas Eve! That's why this story may seem short and not-right-ish(?). If I had more time this would be better. Maybe after the contest I could re-upload a proper edited version.

Give me reviews for Christmas! =D


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